Memories
by MoonfangOfHowlPack
Summary: Roxas starts having memories return to him about a boy that vanished a long time ago. When he remembers the boy's name and face, he remembers strong feelings for him and has the urge to find this boy. Will Roxas, along with Riku and Kairi, find this boy?
1. Face

Memories

Ch. 1

Face…

I looked out the window from my seat in class. Usually I would be looking at my teacher, but something else clouded my thoughts. For the past three weeks, I have been having these strange dreams. To me, they feel like faded memories, but also feel made up.

They were all about me and another boy. I couldn't remember what he looked like…all I knew was that he existed. What color was his hair? In fact, what was his eye color? I could never remember by the time I woke up. The face was there, but the color and shape were just…gone. It always made me feel terrible that I couldn't remember.

A voice made the daydream blurry. I looked up too find my teacher, Mr. Yuskay, standing in front of my desk. His yellow eyes glared down at me and fingers were strumming on the desk.

"Are you having fun looking out at the parking lot?" he asked mockingly.

I sighed unable to answer. Not thinking, I said, "Why not get back to teaching. You are a teacher after all, now do you job." I averted my gaze back outside, but listening this time.

Mr. Yuskay half growled and stomped back to his desk. "If you think you're so high and mighty, Roxas," he growled, "why not come up and solve this problem?"

Again, I looked up. Nodding, my legs carried me up to the dry-erase bored. On the bored was a complicated problem, but I solved it in a flash. "d[C]/dt = 0 = k1[A]+k-2[E] –[C](k-1[B]+k2[D]." Saying the problem was hard, so I actually said the letters and if they were in a box. At least I knew the answer; it's not like he wanted me to say it out loud like an idiot.

When no one said a word, I stumbled to my desk and lay my head down over crossed arm. It wasn't enough that my brain was working overtime, but the headache that came from not remembering that kid's name was terrible. Wait…what's his name?! Before I'd gone up the board I'd known it, but now it was gone!

I stared strait at the empty desk in front of me. It was until now that I'd never noticed that desk was empty. Now that I thought about it, that chair was always empty. Did someone use to sit there? If so, then who? Was it that kid or was he really all in my imagination?

I looked back out the window to try and remember. For some reason, the beach down the road – clearly visible from here – helped with remembering. There were several dreams where I and that kid would be on the beach with two other kids; a girl and a boy.

Now them I could remember. Kairi was a light brown haired girl with dim blue eyes. She wore pink a lot and was very pretty. The other boy was Riku. He was that kid's best friend. His silver hair was strait and very thin for a boy. Usually, he had on a green sleeveless shirt with some sort of heart on the chest.

Just as the eye color of that boy was coming back to me, the bell rang. I groaned, annoyed, and ran outside. There was a certain spot I've been going ever since the dreams started and so far no one has found me. Not even my friends: Hayner, Pence, or Olette.

Before running around to the back of the school, I looked to see if any teachers were out. Why bother? They were never out when I got outside. I bolted behind the school and sat in my usual spot. There was a feeling in this exact spot that helped me remember that face that made me blush in my dreams, but it was never that clear. Another reason I chose this spot was because of the view. There was a street here and at the end you could see the waves of that beach.

Closing my eyes, I tried remembering his face. This is what I do at break everyday: try and remember that face. The bell always rang when I just about had it, but it was coming faster this time. It wasn't colored, but I could see his eyes and a smile. His hair was spiked as if a cartoon and…he looked a lot like me!

I leaned back against the school wall and tried harder to remember. My eyes hurt from closing them so tightly so I opened them for a few seconds. The face was still there and color was coming back, slowly.

"Brown hair…" I whispered. "And…blue eyes; or were they green?" Again, my crystal eyes closed to try and remember. "No, they were blue." More color came to the picture until it was fully colored.

His hair was bright brown and really spiky. Bright blue eyes, darker than mine, were looking at me with a brilliant smile to go with it. Even his clothes made him stand out. Baggy shorts and a black jacket were covering his perfect body. The shoes, black and yellow, even matched him. Underneath the jacket was a navy blue sleeveless T-shirt with red pockets at the bottom.

"Now, what was his name?" I asked myself. "Did it start with an 'M'?" I started thinking of names that started with 'M', but none fit him. "Maybe 'S' then." Now my mind focused on those. They sounded closer but I couldn't get any right. "Sam…Stan? No, not even close. So…Sor…a?" My eyes opened. That was the name! "Sora! Now I remember! How could I forget you…?"

Making sure not to forget, I grabbed a piece of paper from my back pocket and wrote 'Sora' on it. I even wrote a description and did a quick doodle of him. People in my classes said I was really good at drawing, but all of my _art_ is just a bunch of doodles. After finishing the doodle, I started putting a harder line on it. The eyes were the most important so I made fades parts and started shading the little picture. After I was done, I admitted that the picture was pretty good.

The bell rang making me jump. I shoved the picture in my pocket and ran to class with a slight blush on my face. Now that I remembered, I could remember my dreams and why I was blushing when I awoke. We had been together in my dreams and that was why it made it so easy to remember him at times.

Once back in class, I spotted Hayner looking at me with concern. I was late to class for once and I think it was because of the drawing. He might have been worried about that or about the fact that my face with slightly red. I took a seat next to him and started fiddling with my pencil.

"Are you okay. Roxas?" he asked, leaning over the aisle. His messy blonde hair was combed back for once because of the new school rule: No messy hair in school.

I nodded and continued messing around with my pencil until I dropped it. When I grabbed it, I noticed writing under my desk. I looked at it thinking it was going to be some curse words or something about class being boring, but no. It read: **Sora X Roxas Forever. Don't forget about me, Rox.**

Sitting back up, I felt another blush fade in on my face. My head lay down on my arms and I started smiling to myself. Sora must be real because that wasn't my handwriting and I never talked about my dreams. Either that or someone broke into my house and heard me dreaming.

Hayner tapped my shoulder. "Why is your face red? Did a girl ask you out or something?"

I looked up at him and just smiled. "Nope, even better!" I started snickering from being so excited. "I remembered someone I forgot, and now I'll never forget again." As I spoke, I took out the doodle of Sora and look at it.

Hayner, being a butt as always, peeked over my shoulder. "Maybe you should color it in?" he suggested.

I nodded. "Yea, then I can remember a little better." My binder was already in my desk. Whenever I was late to class, Hayner or Pence would bring it to my next class for me. I grabbed the pencils out of my binder and started looking for light and normal brown. Upon finding them, I started coloring in Sora's hair and, lightly, shading it.

Once I finished coloring all of him, except the eyes, class was almost over. For his eyes, I chose navy blue and cerulean. My eyes, in my own opinion, were more of a cerulean and sky blue, so I had to make his a little darker than that. The lower part of his eyes were slightly darker than the top and there was a thin dark line circling the pupil just as mine had.

Olette turned in her seat. "That looks really good, Roxas," she said with a blush. That brunette girl had a huge crush on me, but she had no clue that I knew. To bad that I like Sora and not her, but I'm not even sure he exists. "Who is he?"

"His name is Sora, but I'm not even sure he's real or not." My blue eyes locked on her emerald ones. "I've been having these strange dreams about him and two other kids, but it feels like it's just a dream and not real at all."

Someone at the front of the class coughed. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" she asked. It was the teacher, Miss Toki. She was one of the meanest female teachers in the entire school starting from her long black hair and down to the souls of her high heals.

"No, ma'am," I stuttered. Sure, this teacher was beautiful, but if only her attitude matched that. Maybe then Miss Toki would be married. And if she were any meaner, the students wouldn't even want to come to class – and they don't already.

She nodded. "Good." Her black hair, which is always up in a pony tail, hung over her left shoulder saying that she was pissed today. Everyone has had Miss Toki so much the few years they've gone here that they know when she is mad or not. When she is being nice, she lets us talk quietly when we are done working and that usually means a day off from learning. When she is mean, like today, she won't let anyone talk. If someone is doing anything other than listening to her, she makes that person write a five page essay on the lesson they weren't listening too.

I was too happy to get in trouble. Remembering Sora had sent my heart racing to catch up with the thought. Now that I knew him again, maybe I could look for Riku and Kairi after school. Then, once I find them, we could go to the beach.

In all my excitement I remembered a promise I told myself. When I had started remembering there had been another boy with me, I said that I wouldn't go to the beach until I remembered him. So, I'd get Kairi and Riku then head to the beach.

So far, it was only fifth period so I had one more to go before school was out. Most schools, a lot of the public schools now-a-days, had seven periods. This was a special school with only six periods instead of seven to make it easier on the students. This didn't help when you had my teacher for sixth.

The bell rang, almost making me fall out of my seat. I gathered my class books and headed to my locker. The picture of Sora was tucked away in my back pocket with a heart that said in it: Don't forget, Roxas.

I opened my locker – number 356 – and grabbed my history books. My locker was one of the cleanest in the school. It was so clean that the janitor, Mitch Tangio, gave me a little home made ribbon. Yea, I was a good kid in these people's eyes, but if only they knew about my dreams then they'd know why I tried so hard at school.

Walking to class, the bell rang again. "I'm late!" My slow walk quickly changed to running. "Mr. Connar will have my head for sure this time!" Slowing as I came to the History room, I stopped to catch my breath. "Please, tell me he's late today, too." I reached for the door knob and walked into the class.

Pence sat in his seat behind mine. "Over here! Mr. Connar will be here any second!" He caught my books when I threw them to him and I jumped into my seat.

I turned around to thank him when Mr. Connar came in. His large figure took up the entire door way making it impossible for the hallway lights to come in. He stepped slowly into the class making everything he passed turn ice cold. Even his golden blonde hair – the same color as mine – seamed scary to everyone.

He slammed two huge books onto his desk that made a loud noise. All of the students in this class hated him, but were too frightened to say anything. When anyone spoke that wasn't spoken too first, Mr. Connar had a big yelling session that made any kid cry. He'd yelled at me once, but it hadn't been as mean as the others.

I grabbed my picture of Sora out of my pocket to put in my History book as a bookmark. I used a lot of things as bookmarks: pencils, paper, and even erasers once in a while. Mr. Connar would start talking and tell us to mark out place in out books so he could tell his story and not think we are reading history instead.

We started reading about World War II, but it wasn't long before Mr. Connar started talking about how he was in the army. He did this a lot so we were never ready for tests. We never studied because Mr. Connar was too busy telling us about his army days for us to be taking notes to study. Luckily for me, I study the entire chapter so I had a 'B' in this class. Most other kids were luck to get a 'D' in this class.

Everyone had their books closed, but I was too busy looking at the picture of Sora I'd drawn. There was a part of his hair I'd gotten wrong, so I took out a pencil to correct it. I started erasing the part that I'd screwed up when something loud caught my attention. All of the kids had gasped at something and I quickly found out why. Mr. Connar had thrown a marker at me, but it had missed and bounced off my desk almost hitting Hayner.

Mr. Connar glared at me. Even if I was the only student passing in his class, he still got really mad at me sometimes. "What do you think you are doing?!" he yelled.

My face was probably white in fear. "I was…taking notes about your story," I said smoothly. Long ago, when he had first told this story, I'd taken notes because it was interesting, but now it was just boring. I slid the notes over my picture of Sora hoping he'd buy it.

He pushed his way through the close desks, knocking Olette's over in the process, and stood by my desk. He grabbed the papers, luckily not my picture which I'd hid after he got the papers. "Hmmm…Nice notes, Roxas." He smiled at me; his first smile since last year on the last day of school. The students moved their desks so the fat teacher could get back to his desk.

"That was a close one, Rox," Pence whispered from behind me.

"Yea, I was trying to fix this picture I drew earlier." I tried talking to him while still looking forward, but because he didn't say anything, I thought he hadn't heard me. "You hear me?"

Pence nodded. "You don't like your art though, why were you trying to correct something?" His voice was really confused, typical for Hayner but not Pence. "Is this drawing special or something?"

This time, I nodded. "It's just a picture of someone I remember." Wanting to check something, I half turned around to face Pence. "I have to ask you, Hayner, and Olette something after class." I turned back before Mr. Connar noticed and started fixing Sora's hair.

After class, Pence gathered Olette and Hayner. We ran around to the back of the school where I sat all the time. I sat in my spot and waited for them to ask what I wanted.

Hayner sat next to me and Pence on my other side. Olette sat on the grass in front of us with her legs crossed to the side. She was trying to make herself pretty for me, but it wasn't doing anything.

"So," Hayner started, "what did you want?" He looked over at me with his head leaned against the wall.

I sighed. "I need to know if you know Sora." My voice was crackling with unease. It felt weird talking about Sora to my friends who, might or might not, know who the brunette was.

Pence laughed. "How would we know him? You showed us the picture and we hadn't said anything."

Again I sighed. "I thought as much…" A single tear fell from my eye. "But how could I have all of these false memories? I mean, they feel so…real."

Hayner just started at me. "How long have you been having these dreams?"

"About three weeks. It was about a month ago, before I met you guys, that I had a feeling that someone else was with me." My vision flew to the beach down the road. "It had been me, Riku, Kairi, and another boy. I hadn't been able to remember his name until today."

Pence half winced. "Dang, that long to remember someone?"

I nodded. There was a certain pain I'd never felt that entered my heart. Possibly a broken heart that Sora might not be real and that someone had been watching me while I slept. If someone was playing a trick on me, it wasn't funny!

Olette spoke up this time. "Maybe you knew him before you met us? He might have moved and you are just starting to remember him."

"But why would I remember Riku and Kairi so clearly? I'd feel like…a horrible friend if I forgot someone I liked so easily…" I wiped a few more tears from my eyes. "Since I remembered, I'm going to the beach. You guys want to come?"

"Can't," Olette spoke softly. "I have a ton of homework from Mr. Connar."

Pence nodded. "Same, but from Mrs. Glide. She wants us to practice for the concert next Monday." He smiled. "But I can come tomorrow or something." Both Olette and Pence ran off toward their homes.

"How about you, Hayner?" I asked hoping he would say yes.

The dirty blonde sighed and ruffled his hair. "Sorry, man. I promised Tessa I'd take her to the movies today." He punched my shoulder lightly before running off.

I sighed. "Alone again…just like always." My legs started carrying me down the empty street that lead to the beach. Maybe Kairi and Riku would be there and they could set things strait; if they remembered me.

I stopped.

What if they didn't remember me and thought it was a stalker since I knew their names? My head shook and I started running to the beach. I had to see that beach again, and if everything reminds me of them then they might be real.

Once at the beach, I stopped in shock. Over by the water were two people that were very familiar. One had long brunette hair and a pink shirt and skirt. She had her shoes behind her and feet in the coming and going tide. The other was a silver haired boy with, what looked like, a bandana around his face. It covered his eyes as if he had no wish to see. His clothes were the same too; a pine green sleeveless T-shirt and sea green pants.

"Riku…Kairi…?" I murmured.

They both looked back. Neither of them spoke, but Kairi's eyes widened. She stood up and took a few rather messed up steps toward me. She was a few feet away before speaking, "Roxas?"

I half jumped back. "You remember me?!" I gasped.

"Roxas!" she screamed and hugged me. "It's been so long! Where have you been?" Her eyes, dim blue and watery, looked into mine reflecting the bright emo blue.

I scratched the back of my head. "I was at school. I guess I kinda forgot about you guys…and Sora." My head turned hiding my face from Kairi and Riku.

"You forgot about Sora?" Riku questioned. He laughed a few times before saying, "I thought you'd be the one to remember him the most since you and he were going out before he disappeared."

A blush faded on my face. "We w-were?" I stuttered.

Riku laughed again. "Yes, and you two were taking it seriously. You came to the beach everyday to just sit out and talk about what you were going to _do _that night."

The blush grew darker when he emphasized 'do'. "I knew there was a reason I promised myself I'd never come here until I remembered him." For the first time since the bell rang, I took out the picture of Sora. "See, I remembered today and even drew him to make sure I didn't forget. Does it look like him?"

Kairi and Riku both looked at it, well Riku didn't _look_. I wonder how he even knew it was there, and why he nodded.

"It does look like him; exactly. You are still really good, Roxas," Riku said. He smiled, but it faded when I didn't say anything.

"How can you _see_ it with that _thing_ over your eyes?" I asked.

He snickered. "You can say I'm physic."

"I'd rather say psycho," I joshed.

Riku punched my shoulder playfully. "You are just the same as always, man. Now, what do you remember about Sora?"

"Oh, everything, I think. After I remembered his name it all came back. The only thing I never knew was that we were going out." My blush slightly grew at the dreams that I suddenly thought about.

Kairi giggled. "Well, we have been coming here every day for the past week trying to find out why he disappeared and who, or what, took him." Her vision flew to the ocean water. Out in the distance was a large island. It looked more like a giant tree house over the water than an island.

"What is that?" I asked suddenly. It looked really familiar, but I had no clue. I even felt as if I'd been there, but all of the memories were faded.

"Oh, that's Destiny Island. I thought for sure you'd remember that place." Kairi giggled to herself. "That was where you and Sora first met. We'd been swimming when something attacked you and you fainted."

Riku laughed. "Yea, I tried to save you but couldn't get anywhere near you because there was something circling you." His smile grew slightly. "That was when Sora came to the rescue. It was like he flew out of mid air and defeated that thing underwater."

"Then he helped us get you to the island because we were too far away from this shore." Kairi sighed deeply. "It's love at first site. He'd even insisted that he give you C.P.R. instead of one of us!" She snickered.

I sighed. Maybe I didn't remember everything that I needed about Sora. Seriously, I didn't even remember the place that we'd first met! All I remembered was what he looked like, his name, the way he acted, and that we'd been closer than friends. Some boyfriend I turned out to be.

"Hey, in our relationship was I a uke or a seme?" I suddenly asked out loud. I blushed and immediately covered my mouth. That question was meant to be in my head, but I'd let it slip out.

Riku laughed. "You were a uke, surprisingly. Sora was a total dunce and loved to have fun. We thought that he'd be the uke, but I guess you guys didn't think that." He smiled at me making my blush glow brighter.

Kairi put a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe if we go to the island then you will remember a little more?" Her pale blue eyes were fixed on the island that I could never remember.

"I have one more question." My voice dropped suddenly.

Kairi took her hand off my shoulder and stepped back. "Yes, what is it?"

"Why is it that…you both remembered Sora, but I didn't know anything about him until today? I mean, I was closer to him than any of you, and I didn't even remember his face until today!" My hand whipped the tears away from my eyes just as they were ready to pour out. "It's wrong that…that I couldn't remember anything about him."

"Maybe there is a reason why you didn't remember," Riku said softly. "Maybe he didn't want you to remember. I mean, we didn't remember until a month ago."

I looked up. "But you said you'd been coming here for the past week. You didn't know he'd disappeared until a week ago?"

"No, we knew that, but now we want to know what happened to him exactly." Riku faced the sea again. "All we can remember is that he'd started acting weird when his eyes turned yellow."

"Yellow?" I echoed.

"Yea," Kairi sighed. "His eyes just suddenly turned yellow and then he started getting really mean." She looked down far enough that her hair fell over her face. "Then, one day after school, we heard Sora scream from the beach."

"When we got here," Riku continued, "you were lying on the sand with a huge gash over your left eye." When he was talking about the gash, Riku touched a spot over my left eye that had a permanent scar. "If my memory is correct and you were here when Sora vanished, which you were, then you should know what happened to him."

I sat down. _That's right, I should know._ I focused hard on what they'd been saying and tried to remember. Nothing came to me, all I saw was static in my head. Right when I was going to give up, a voice came through the static.

"What are you talking about, Sora?" It was my voice! There was no picture yet, but I could barely hear the voices.

"The Heartless…coming through…body, Roxas." That voice was Sora's for sure.

"Nobody? …mean? You're act-…weird." The conversation kept going on like that for a few seconds, but I'd sort of stopped listening because none of it made sense.

I'd started listening again because Sora sounded mad for some reason.

"Not…Roxas! They are…Never quit!" Then his voice dropped so I could barley hear him, yet it was clearer than the rest of the conversation. "Don't tell Riku or Kairi about this Roxas."

"About Nobodies and Heartless? Sure, it's all crazy anyway."

"It's not crazy! The Heartless ar-" He was cut off by a noise that made my heart jump like when I watch horror movies. There was a sickening cracking noise that shot through the static and a sudden image came to my eyes.

Pitch black shadows, thicker than even the darkest parts of hell, were surrounding Sora and me. Sora's eyes, just as Kairi and Riku had said, were bright yellow, but the yellow was covering his entire eye just as the shadows were consuming his body.

A black hand shot out at me covering my eyes and shoving me out of the shadows. I landed on the beach and stared in horror at the black mass where I'd once been with Sora. Then, in just the blink of an eye, the black mass flew into the sand. "Sora!"

10


	2. Dream

Ch. 2

Dream

My eyes shot open. What was that black thing that took Sora? Was it the reason why he'd been acting weird and…what did it do with him? It wasn't for a few seconds that I noticed I was lying on the beach with Riku and Kairi trying to calm me down.

"Roxas, control your breathing!" Riku was yelling. "You're going to give yourself a heart attack!" Kairi was using a small towel to fan me while Riku was holding my head on his lap.

She stopped once my eyes opened, but Riku was continuing to tell me, a little more calmly, to slow my breathing. "Did you see anything?" Kairi whispered.

"What do you think?" Riku questioned. "He screamed out for Sora and then collapsed."

Ignoring Riku's rude remark, I answered Kairi's question with a swift nod. "Something black took him…right here on the beach."

Both of them gasped. "Could you tell what it was?" Riku asked trying to make me sit up. "Did it have a certain shape?"

"No, I couldn't tell what it was, but…I think it was a spirit or something." I put a hand to my forehead. All I felt was a sharp pounding against my hand and it made me moan and press my hand harder against it.

"You still dizzy?" Kairi breathed holding her hands out ready to catch me if I fell forward.

I shook my head. "Just a slight headache, but what was that thing that took Sora? Have you guys had any trouble with black spirits?"

Riku snorted. "Dude, that was racist."

Again, I shook my head, but in confusion. "Racist? What do you mean? I meant e- oh… not like that!"

The silver haired boy snickered, but then suddenly got serious. "I know, I know; this isn't a time to have fun." He stood up and started pacing. "Maybe it was-"

"Wait!" I spoke out. "When I was thinking, Sora said something about…Heartless and Nobodies. My memory hasn't fully returned, but that's all I can remember…and that I thought it was retarded."

Kairi sat back with her legs folded under her and arms crossed across her chest. "That could be it. Maybe it was the Heartless that took him. He did say that the Heartless were coming for him to take his body."

"_The Heartless…coming through…body, Roxas."_ I put my hand back to my head. That reminded me of what Sora had been saying. Could it have been 'The Heartless are coming through for my body, Roxas'? Or something about them coming from the darkness? There was something about the stuff that Sora had been saying that just made me think about shadows and hearts.

A soft wind blew.

Riku looked at his hand. It quickly changed to a fist and was pulled toward himself and held at his side in anger. "It was the Heartless…They want him back as either their leader or just because he use to be one."

Confusion spread through my mind. "So you know what these Heartless and Nobodies are?"

Kairi nodded. "Nobodies are made from Heartless and you are Sora's Nobody…"

"That makes Sora your Somebody," Riku joked, but in a serious tone that made me almost laugh. "That's the reason you and Sora are together." He pulled the headband above his eyes and rested it on his forehead. "Sora had met you while you were on a mission and found out you were his Nobody, so he called you his Somebody."

Kairi giggled. "You thought it was sweet so you started hanging out together and, before we knew it, fell in love!" She made a heart with her hands. "To tell the truth, I thought you'd be the seme, but you were the uke." Another giggle. Riku had already pointed that out, but she must have just wanted to say it.

"You had said that we met while we were swimming… Now you're just confusing me." I put a hand to my forehead again.

Riku sat down and looked at me with pale green eyes. "We were swimming, but we were out there for a reason. There were kids disappearing and we thought it might be an animal in the water, that's where you passed out." He stood back up. "We can get a raft and go to the island tomorrow or something."

I sighed and sat forward with my hands on my ankles. "I don't think he's there." My eyes glanced at Kairi and Riku, then to the sky. "Something tells me…Sora isn't going to be anywhere we can walk to." My blue orbs fell to the water. "Or surf for that matter."

"What makes you say that?" the brunette girl questioned. "There's no trouble in checking."

"Maybe not for you…" My voice was under a whisper. Only I heard it.

Riku took a few steps until he stood in the shallow waves. "Sora has been missing for quite a while; we can't waste time _checking_ if he's somewhere, Kairi." The silver haired teen turned back. "Roxas, are you going to be able to meet us here? I think I have an idea."

I didn't nod.

Sora wasn't on Destiny Island. It felt like he wasn't even in this dimension – if that was possible. He was somewhere in the darkness; waiting for our help. We need to do something now! No more wasting time on stupid, useless things!

"Roxas?" Riku's voice broke into my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you could meet us here tomorrow." The older male eyed me for a long moment before I answered.

"Oh! Sure I can. Sorry, I zoned out for a sec there." I laughed to myself, but that didn't last long before I was silent again. "I think I'm gonna get going." I jumped up, brushing any remaining sand from my hair and clothes. "What time do you want me here tomorrow?"

Riku stretched. "Yea, it is getting late." His attention was on me then. "How about six? Before school."

I nodded. "Do I need to bring a tardy if I'm late?" I joked.

"Nope," Kairi answered, almost like she thought I meant it. "But bring some snacks. We might be out for a while."

Another nod from me. "See you guys tomorrow!" I called as my legs carried me down the road, back to my house.

The house was empty as usual. Mom was out shopping and dad was at work; nothing out of the ordinary. I have no sisters or brothers, so the house was deathly silent – the kind of silent that would frighten a deaf man.

I dropped my backpack beside the coat rack and entered the kitchen. It was a small kitchen, but big enough for two people to be walking around in.

I opened the fridge and snatched an apple from a drawer. The apple was green. I didn't much care for red ones; too sweet. After checking for any dark spots on the emerald beauty, I took a bite. Sour, but not enough to make me throw it away. Perfect.

Next on my usual agenda was to watch T.V., but I was still curious about Heartless and Nobodies. Riku and Kairi had given a good description already, but they also said that I was one. Which one was it again? Oh! A Nobody. Not very encouraging for someone who was considered emotionally depressed – emo for short.

Finishing my apple and throwing the core away, I got onto the computer. The screen was one of the new holographic ones where you touch everything and drag it across. Pretty cool actually.

I was already logged in, so I pressed on the internet symbol.

_Google _I typed into the search box. That was the usual place I go for information. It answered most of my questions and never judged me like Yahoo did. Plus, I never had to wait for answers; except when the page has to load.

The first thing I wrote was _Heatless_, but all I got was about a dozen pages about movie stars, authors, and school students that were seen as 'heartless'. Not what I had hoped for.

Nobodies was next. Again, nothing as they had described.

"Of course!" I half yelled. "The one time I actually search for something on my own accord, and I don't find anything!" I poked the screen repeatedly. "Just my luck…"

Maybe I could try ?

My fingers flew over the keyboard. They didn't stop until was up and my question '_what is a Heartless?_' had been entered. This showed better results.

The first answer read '_Heartless are demons from the shadows that claim living organism's hearts/souls as their own. These living beings are then transformed into a Heartless._' That was turned out to be more like what Riku has said than what I'd hoped for.

Now for Nobodies again…

'_A non-existent creature. Nobodies are created from a person or animal that has had its soul stolen by a Heartless. The original person that had had its soul taken changes into a Heartless, but its better half stays in contact as an emotionless shell._'

I grunted. _Emotionless? Come now, I have more emotion than a cat high on catnip. _The thought made me laugh. See? I have emotion. I laughed at a joke! Though, I had made the joke… does that count?

My head spun. How could I be a Nobody and not know it? People know about these things and explain them as if they are real, but also as if it's fake. And this one said that Nobodies were non-existent…yet I _do_ exist.

"Too much information…can't comprehend it all." I was prone to talking to myself, and I even answered back sometimes. "I need water."

Heading into the kitchen once again, I stopped when I noticed something outside. It was someone standing in front of my house. I got a glimpse of red and black before it vanished.

"Huh?!" I tore open the door and ran to the spot where the person had been. The black had been a coat, that much was obvious, but the red? I hadn't gotten a good enough look to tell if it was hair or a shirt.

I stood there, staring at the ground where I thought the person had been. "That was odd. Maybe I'm losing my mind." I shook the thought away. "Focus Roxas! I need to relax today so I can meet up with Riku and Kairi tomorrow!" A smile fell on my features. "Maybe, soon, I'll be able to meet Sora again…for the first time." I smiled wider before rushing back inside.

**Moonfang: Sorry it's so short! I've had this much for about three months now so I just wanted to post it ^^'**

**Jaden: you need to work on your Yu-Gi-Oh GX stories again…**

**Moonfang: Why? You want some yaoi action, Jaden-Kun?**

**Jaden: -blush- NO! –turns away- ppl are probably getting impatient is all…**

**Jesse: **_**Sure **_**Jay. You keep saying that to convince yourself.**

**Jaden: I'm not! –pouting-**

**Moonfang: lol anyway, there is still a hold on my Yu-Gi-Oh GX stories. I'd lost the oncoming chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh GX meets the clans (my fault, I accidentally deleted it) and I'm trying to catch up on school work. :D **


	3. Meeting

Ch. 3

Meeting

Sunlight interrupted my dream. All I knew was that it had been a really nice dream about Sora, Riku, Kairi, and me hanging out together; I forgot it as soon as I awoke. It always happens.

Getting into the kitchen, I found my mom sleeping on the couch. She had dark black hair and was wearing a green shirt with a shamrock on it. Was she my real mom? If I'm nonexistent, do I have a mom and dad?

I glanced at the beautiful woman. Now it all made sense for why I looked nothing like her and dad. They'd adopted me.

After grabbing my bag – that I'd put a few things into for when I meet Riku and Kairi – I bolted out the door and straight into Hayner. Both of us fell – me on top of him.

"Ouch… Oh, hey Roxas." Hayner smiled. "What's the rush?"

I managed a small smiled. "I don't have time for this. I'm going to the beach."

The dirty blonde got up and helped me. "The beach? Again? I thought you went there yesterday."

"I had, and I met Riku and Kairi…" My voice had faded away. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell him about this. The blonde might tell my so called parents and I'd probably be grounded. "I just need to get to the beach." I pushed Hayner aside and started down the street.

He quickly caught up. "Why so badly? Did something happen yesterday?"

"Yes," was all I said.

"What then?" he pushed.

"None of your busyness."

"Come on, Rox, you can tell me anything. We're friends."

I picked up speed. "I can't tell you, okay? Because you'll just tell my parents."

"If it's important, then I won't. Unless you're trying to commit suicide." Hayner laughed at his little joke, but stopped when I didn't. "You aren't gonna do that…right?"

"No." I turned a sharp corner, leaving the dirty blonde behind for a second. For that brief moment, I felt sudden regret for even thinking of leaving home without telling my mom at least. What if Riku's idea brought us to Destiny Island for a few days? My parents would be devastated…

Hayner caught up again. "Damn, Roxas. You run fast," he huffed.

I ignored him. He could come I guess, but not follow when we leave the beach… well, if we leave the beach. Besides, I might need a little company before we leave, and Hayner was a good choice. Pence would be too preoccupied talking to Riku and Kairi to care and Olette would probably be nagging my ear off on why I shouldn't be doing this.

"Listen. I'm only letting you come to the beach. When Riku decides to leave, then you can't follow. Understand?"

Hayner stared at me like I was insane. "Who the fuck is Riku?"

I sighed. "He's an old friend that I just met yesterday."

Confused, the blonde stopped running. "He's an old friend…but you just met him?"

"Yes, I just met him. Or you can say, I just remembered him." I stopped for a moment to look at Hayner. "Sora was real. They have proof and have returned my memory of him."

"So…they are like magicians?"

"What?"

"Yea, they used magic to bring your memory back?" He smiled wide.

"Um… No." I laughed. Sometimes, I wonder why this guy is my friend.

We continued on in silence. There was nothing more to talk about other than school which was in a few hours.

"Are you skipping?" Hayner questioned.

I nodded.

"But you'll get in trouble!"

"Then don't tell the teacher I'm skipping. I'm just sick." I didn't look at Hayner and I didn't smile as I spoke. "This is really important to me, Hayner… Please, you can't tell anyone where I'm going."

"Where _are_ you going?"

"I can't tell you that just in case."

Hayner sighed, but didn't say anything. He understood enough to know when to be quiet at least.

Once at the beach, Hayner stood by my side no matter what. He wasn't one to like new people very quickly, especially when they wanted to take me somewhere if it meant skipping school – not the usual thing for me.

Kairi had hugged me and said, "You came! And you brought a friend?"

"Name's Hayner," he growled.

"I'm Kairi." She offered her hand for him to shake, but he just ignored it. "Anyway… that's Riku."

Riku nodded. He had his headband over his eyes again.

"Is he blind or something?" Hayner whispered to me.

"No. Still not sure why he has that." I walked over to Riku. "Sorry about bringing Hayner, but he followed me here from my house and I couldn't get rid of him."

Riku nodded. "It's all right, but you know he can't come with us any further."

I grinned. "Told him that already."

Riku lifted a part of his headband and his green eyes met my blue ones. "If he comes with us, or even holds us up for the slightest moment… everything we're doing here will go to waste."

I nodded, quickly followed by a momentary shiver.

"Now," Riku paced the beach. "Roxas, did you bring what we asked of you?"

Another nod. "I didn't even tell my parents."

"Good." He glanced to Kairi. "You brought a water bottles and dishes, am I right?"

She smiled. "Right, chief." Kairi threw on her backpack.

"Excellent. And I've got emergency stuff." The silver haired boy got his backpack. He then glared to Hayner. "You may leave now."

Hayner grunted. "Not until someone tells me what's going on! Roxas is my friend and even _he_ won't tell me!"

"Maybe because he's trying to protect you." Riku turned to the sea. "If we don't leave now, then everything is going to be messed up…" He lifted his arm, palm to the ocean. "Open…" Riku breathed and darkness emanated from the air. It grew fast and stood swirling on the beach like it was waiting for us.

I swallowed hard. "A portal…" It was so familiar. I've gone through them before… haven't I? My head throbbed. Now was not the time for memories to be returning.

"Quick!" Riku yelled over the now visible advances to keep the portal open. "I can't hold it for long!"

Wind swept over the beach from the dark portal. It was fighting to close! I jumped forward and into the darkness. Cold shadows swirled around me. I closed my blue orbs in panic, but relaxed when the coldness felt…welcoming? The shadows swayed over my pale skin, pulling me further into it.

The feeling was broken as I stepped into white again. And I mean _white_! The place I was now had white and grey walls with no windows or anything. It was like one of those places they put insane people.

I walked forward a few steps and stopped when Kairi entered the room and then Riku. The older boy turned to the portal to close it just as Hayner came flying into the room, and me.

The other teens stared at Hayner for a moment.

"How did he get through?" Kairi asked.

I groaned before pushing Hayner off. "I thought I told you not to come!"

Riku growled.

Hayner shook his head. "I really wanted to…but I didn't! Someone pushed me!" Light green eyes met cerulean.

"He's not lying." I stood up. "Does this mean he's supposed to come?"

Riku sighed. "I'm not one to believe in fate… but sure. Why not?"

I smiled. Now we had some comic relief on the mission. "Where are we?"

Now everyone was looking around. Kairi and Riku both sighed.

"Wrong place," both said.

I nudged Kairi. "Where were we supposed to go?"

"We were supposed to go to Hollow Bastion."

"Well," I began without noticing, "It's obvious that you used the wrong portal. It should look like this." My hand lifted and a dark mass appeared in front of me. The swirls in the darkness were a little lighter than Riku's had been and moved a lot faster.

All of the other teens stared at me instead of the portal.

Riku was first to speak. "How'd you know all of that?"

"All of what?" I noticed the portal and that fact that I'd summoned it. "Um… I'm not really sure to tell the truth." I laughed and scratched my head.

He smiled. "You really are a Nobody." Riku stepped through the portal leaving me confused.

"What's he mean?" I asked Kairi.

The brunette grinned. She was a little _too_ happy-go-lucky. It was kinda creepy. "Nobodies can open portals like Riku did, but they have more control over where they are going and on how long it stays open." She put a hand on the edge of the portal and felt up its side. "This one is very sturdy… like you've done it before. That's what he meant." She smiled at me again before walking into the darkness.

Hayner didn't move. "This is all crazy!" The dirty blonde jumped back when I offered him my hand.

"Come on. You went though the first one."

"Not on purpose!" He sat down. "I'm not goin'!"

I shrugged. "Fine, stay in the scary white castle and have the other Nobodies come and take you away."

Hayner jumped up. "On second thought…"

"Come on then!"

He stepped toward the portal and poked at the swirling darkness. "First time I went through… I went too fast…"

I snickered. "You want _me_ to push you?"

"No!" he shrieked and jumped back again.

"I'm only kidding. You just walk through; like this." I stepped into the darkness and vanished from his site. Still having complete control, I managed to keep the portal open until Hayner finally entered the darkness.

Hayner yelped when the portal shut and darkness engulfed us. "W-where are we?"

"Between worlds. Follow me." I showed Hayner into the light again as we entered Hollow Bastion.

Dim sunlight shown over the small world and onto Riku and Kairi who were sitting on a wall that viewed a small section of the town.

Riku glanced back. "Good job, Roxas. You got us here." His green eyes looked back to Kairi and the two laughed.

I smiled. These two made me feel…they made me feel. I could almost hear my heart beating in my ears and my smile threatened to stay permanently on my face. "Thanks guys." I jumped up onto the wall with them.

Hayner followed but didn't jump high enough to be able to sit; he just leaned over the wall with his arms to hold him there. "You guys do this a lot?" he asked Kairi and Riku.

Kairi nodded. "When Sora was around, Roxas and he would go to a bunch of different worlds."

"They'd take us with them occasionally," Riku added. "I still remember when we visited Atlantica and Sora got stuck in a clam!"

Kairi laughed. "That was so funny! And Roxas beat the crap out of it with his Keyblade!"

"Keyblade?" Hayner and I asked.

"We'll tell you about that later." Riku sighed. "This place is a little different from what I remember."

"A lot cleaner and less Heartless." Kairi crossed her legs and leaned forward.

Crackling noises broke out behind them. It was like something was throwing pebbles at the wall or tapping it with something sharp.

Riku fell back to look at what was hitting the wall. "Kairi, I think I found some of those Heartless that aren't out there."

I looked down and saw what he was talking about. There was a small group of human shaped Heartless tapping their sharp claws against the wall. One of them jumped up and caught the tip of Hayner's shoe, but it didn't get a grip before falling back to the ground.

"Maybe now would be a good time to tell me about the Keyblade?" I questioned.

The other two looked to each other first. "Sure," they both agreed.

**Moonfang: AH! I know that Hollow Bastion's name was changed at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2… but I can't remember what it's called! And I've looked too…**

**Jaden: Can anyone please tell us the name that Hollow Bastion was changed to?!**

**Jesse: it would really help with the next chapter ^^'**

**Cloud: Am I in it?!**

**Moonfang: maybe… maybe not! :D**

**Cloud: Aww… I wanna be in it…**

**Moonfang: you will be! I'm NOT leaving out my adorable Cloud-Kun ^^**

**Jaden+Jesse: R&R!!!**


	4. Enter the Darkness

Ch. 4

Enter the Darkness

_Why do I feel at home? This place is so dark… is that a good thing? I bet someone forgot to pay for the electricity. I'm not alone…there are things in the dark. They're talking to me? I can hear something calling my name._

"Sora? Hey, wake up!"

_Such a beautiful voice. I think it's female? A beautiful female voice…calling for me?_

"I don't think he'll awaken…"

_She's sad? Now why's that? Because I won't wake up?_

"Who are you?" my voice was harsh and hurt as I spoke. _She sounds so familiar…_

The girl giggled. "You're awake after all?"

I managed to crack open a dark blue eye. "Barely…" I couldn't see the girl yet, but felt as she helped me sit up. "Where am I?"

"Safe," the girl said, finally coming into my view. She had black hair with the back up in a long ponytail and dark blue eyes. A soft yellow scarf was wrapped around her neck, loosely, and she had a sea green top with light tan shorts. On her hands were some sort of yellow gloves that almost reached her elbows but were a few inches short, and fishnet went up the rest of the way. With the way she was sitting, I couldn't see her shoes, but I guessed they were either yellow or green.

"You never answered my first question," I moaned just before my head started aching.

The girl's smile vanished and she held me steady. "You need to relax, Sora."

I half growled. Could this girl not hear me? She clearly understood since she spoke my language. "Who are you?!" I almost yelled.

"Calm down, man. It's me, Yuffie, remember?" She smiled.

I thought hard. The name was familiar, but nothing came to mind. I knew enough to tell she wasn't an enemy. "Nope. I got nothing."

Yuffie gasped. "Leon, I think Sora lost his mind!"

A male with light brown hair entered the room. "He lost that a long time ago."

"No!" Yuffie laughed. "He lost his memory, not his actual brain."

"I know what you meant."

Yuffie huffed and turned back to me, arms crossed. "You're no fun with jokes."

Leon sighed. "Sorry Sora, she's been this way since we found you passed out."

"Passed out?" Confusing as it may sound, I feel like I knew these people. They obviously know me, and that Yuffie girl says I lost my memory… but I remember Kairi and Riku completely. Especially Roxas. I groaned again when another headache vibrated through my cranium.

Leon grabbed something out of a small box – I guessed it was a mini fridge – and threw a wet rag to Yuffie.

The girl helped me lay down on a pillow that I just noticed was there. "Just relax. You've been through a lot," she said smoothly and placed the rag on my forehead. Her voice truly was beautiful. _Like a fallen angel… or pudding. No wait… that smells goo, not sounds good. Well, actually it does sound good about now._

I smiled at my stupid thoughts. It usually happens when something is too much for me to handle, I made stupid jokes for myself to try and relax.

"Hey…Yuffie?"

The girl was pulling a blanket over me. "Hmm?"

"You have a really pretty voice." I smiled at my joke again. _Hehe. Pudding. _"Can you sing?"

Yuffie finished putting the blanket on me. "Thank you, Sora. And no, I'm not a good singer."

"We have some Heartless in the town again, and he really must be in bad shape if he thinks you can sing." That voice was a little gruff to be Leon. A new person must have entered the room.

"I'll handle the Heartless." That was Leon again. "Yuffie, sing to him and make sure he knows how bad you are."

"Oh ha-ha! Like you can sing better, _Squall_!"

I snickered. My eyes opened and I looked to Yuffie. "Can you at least try? I'm sure you'd be great."

Yuffie blushed. "Um… sure." She cleared her throat. "You just go to sleep and I'll try and sing," she said with a ginger smile.

I nodded and closed my eyes.

_Hush child, the darkness will rise from the deep_

_And…carry you don't into sleep_

_Child, the darkness will rise from the deep _

_And…carry you don't into sleep._

It was good. I expected it to be average, but her voice truly was beautiful. By the silence that followed the rest of the song, I knew they thought the same. It was a bit of a weird song to choose, but no one complained.

I felt myself sink into sleep and all the light behind my eyelids faded to black. When I opened then, as I usually do when I dream, I still saw blackness. There was whispers coming from every corner in the shadows and yellow lights started appearing.

_Fireflies?_

One pair of lights blinked and inched closer.

_Nope. Not fireflies._

Another pair got closer and then another. Once they were close enough, the light that I was emanating reflected off their dark faces and showed their true form.

"Heartless!" I yelped. First thing I tried was my Keyblade. Nothing. "No… not a dream…" One of the Heartless leapt at me, claws outstretched. "_NIGHTMARE_!"

***********

"You know how to do it?" Riku questioned.

I nodded. "I think I got it." My right hand waved out in front of me sending glittery sparks out to form a black and purple Keyblade. "This is almost like a dream come true!" I smiled to myself. "I get to fight evil and save someone. Just like a video game!"

Hayner nodded. He was now lying on the top of the wall. Well, more like clinging to it. "I'll just be the sidekick that does nothing, thank you very much!" He pushed his forehead to the wall.

"If you hadn't come with us in the first place, then you wouldn't need to be anything," Riku snapped.

"I told you, I was _pushed_!"

"Whatever. You ready Roxas?"

I grinned again. "Ready the second I was created."

Kairi smiled to me, her golden flowered Keyblade ready. "We're like the tree musketeers," she commented. "And when we find Sora, we still will be."

I looked at her. "How? There'll be four of us."

"You and Sora _are_ considered one person."

"Don't you mean 'Sora and me'?"

"Same difference!" she huffed.

I laughed. Too use to doing stuff like that. It was fun to get on people's nerves. "Riku, you take the lead." I gestured with my hand to the Heartless who were just standing around like idiots.

Riku grinned. His Keyblade was more like a dragon wing. On the hilt, between the blade and the top of the hilt, was a blue marble that looked like a dragon eye. The silver haired teen jumped off the wall and into the throng of Heartless. In one sweep, about twelve were gone. "These are just shadows, so they're easy," he said to us.

The brunette girl next to me jumped down next. She swung at a Shadow that was coming up behind Riku and it vanished in a mix of petals and dust. "Really easy," she agreed.

I smiled. There were only a few left. I decided to get the one closest to Riku. When I jumped, the Heartless was about to attack Riku, but it froze and glared at me. At least I think it was a glare.

Riku jumped away when he noticed the Shadow.

I sung, but the Heartless jumped but. As it came down for an attack, I turned; bringing the tip of my Keyblade across its face and the Shadow was gone. I continued to swing my Keyblade in a full circle and it sliced through another Shadow that was trying to get me from behind.

"Watch your back, Roxas!" Riku called.

My left hand went back and summoned a creamy white Keyblade with a blue, purple, and yellow star design at the end shot into existence, killing another Shadow.

Once all the Heartless Shadows were gone, I sat down with a sigh. The Keyblades were amazing! Such a simple weapon like this could kill an enemy that nothing else could? And I had two! The white one was mine, but the black one felt more like a distant memory, a present, from a lost friend. I could ask about it later.

"Nice moves, Roxas," Riku commented and knelt down to me.

I smiled. "Thanks. Hayner, you can come down now."

The dirty blonde wasn't looking at us. "There is some guy running over here."

Kairi cocked her head to one side. "A guy?"

"Yea, he's got brown hair and is wearing a lot of black. Lots of zippers on his clothes. And I think three brown belts? Nope. Two of them, but he has three on his arm." The dirty blonde jumped down from the wall, landing on me.

"Why do you keep laying on me?" I asked.

He laughed. "You just get in my way."

The man that Hayner described came around the corner with a sword out. Hayner had said he was running, but the man was walking now. His weapon was like a sword and gun mixed together with the hilt of the sword being a gun handle. Like Hayner said, the man had a black half jacket and black pants. He had _four_ belts on – two brown and two black – and had three smaller ones on his left arm.

"Riku? Kairi? And even Roxas?" The man asked. "What are you guys doing here?"

Kairi giggled for a second. "We came to see the sights and ask you guys something."

The silver haired teen nodded. "Sora is missing. Well, he has been for a few years now."

The man stared at us for a minute. "He's not missing anymore. He's back at out place. Yuffie is taking care of him."

My face lit up. "He's okay?"

The man nodded. "He lost his memory though. Doesn't remember a thing about us." He put his sword in a holder on his back. "Come with me."

We nodded and followed the man.

"Who is he?" I asked Riku. "I don't remember him."

Riku snickered. "Maybe you and Sora do have a lot in common. He loses his memory about them and so do you." The older teen slowed down so that the man was out of earshot. "That's Leon; he's a friend of Sora's. They met in Reverse Town when Destiny Island was destroyed."

I sighed. Yet another person's name to remember. "Anyone else I should know about" I caught Riku's shoulder before he got too far ahead.

He looked back to me. "Maybe a few. Yuffie is really hyper and about the same height as you, Cid is the older man with blonde hair and a kind of bad attitude if you talk bad about his stuff, and Merlin is the really old wizard with the white beard."

Hayner shivered. "Wizard?" He'd come back to listen about the people he had to know as well. "If we make him mad…will he turn us into frogs?"

"Nah." Riku continued ahead. "Maybe a cockroach, but not a frog," he joked. At least I hope it was a joke.

We came to a house that was only a few minutes away from where we'd fought the Heartless. Leon opened the door and showed us in.

"Yuffie, I found some people you might want to greet." The man put his sword against a table and sat in a chair next to it, grabbing both the sword and a soft towel in order to polish it.

A girl with black hair came into the room, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder as she walked. "Who is it?" she asked without looking to us.

"Look for yourself." Leon pointed to us with the towel.

Yuffie glanced to us and noticed Riku first. "Hey!" she exclaimed excitedly. "First we find Sora yesterday, and now you guys show up? Awesome!" She raced over and hugged Riku and then Kairi. Before hugging me, she paused. "Do _you_ remember me?"

I gulped. "Um… Yuffie?" I knew the name, but not her. "And no, I don't."

She hugged me anyway. "It's still nice to see you again, Roxas."

I hugged her back for a second before she let go and glared at Hayner. "Who's _that_?"

Hayner glared right back at her. "I'm Roxas's friend," he growled.

"Is that so?" Yuffie pulled at a strand of his wavy hair. "Who styled you hair? Looks like crap."

"Ouch! Let go!"

Riku laughed. "He's Hayner from Twilight Town. Roxas and this guy became friends after Sora vanished and he lost his memory."

Yuffie released his hair. "So Roxas has no memory either?" She sighed. "Does he know Sora at least?"

Kairi nodded. "He knew him, but not that he and Sora were together."

"Aww!" Yuffie hugged me again, making sure my arms were against my sides. "The little uke didn't remember his seme?" She laughed. "Just kidding, but you two were really cute together whenever you came here."

"Hollow Bastion sure had changed since last we've been here," Riku put in. "It's a lot… cleaner."

Leon glanced at him. "It's not called Hollow Bastion anymore. Since the Heartless left – before they came back again – we've changed the name back to Radiant Garden." He went back to polishing his sword. "If Hollow Bastion feels better to you, then you can keep calling it that."

Riku shook his head. "It it's not called that, then we won't use it."

Kairi grinned. "Yea, and Radiant Garden is such a pretty name."

I felt a shiver run up my spine. "Where's Sora?"

Yuffie looked at me with surprise. "He's sleeping in the other room. I had Cid look at him." She frown. "He was really scratched up when we found him; he even has a broken wrist."

Kairi gasped. "Do you know how he got it?"

"Probably from fighting Heartless? I'm not sure, but it _is_ his right hand." Yuffie sighed. "He's still as sweet as ever though." She turned and walked into another room.

We followed quickly, but Hayner stayed to talk with Leon.

As soon as I saw Sora, my heart sped up. He was real. The picture I'd drawn really looked like him. Sure, the brunette was covered in scratches and a few bruises, but he was real! I wasn't crazy and just having weird dreams! Sora was alive and breathing!

I crossed the room in a few bounds and fell to the side of the couch he was sleeping on. He almost seamed peaceful in his sleep. Even with the bandages on his right wrist and a few Band-Aids on his face and arms, he still looked sweet.

Reaching out and placing my hand on his, I smiled to myself. I usually touched Sora in my dreams, but this was real. It was first contact for my refreshed mind. I was meeting him for the first time again. Seeing him for the first time again. Touching him for the first time.

His relaxed hand clenched into a fist and made him flinch. It was obvious now that he wasn't having a very pleasant dream.

I moved a little closer to the head of the couch and gingerly touched his cheek. He moved away at first, but stopped. It was as if he thought I was going to hurt him.

"Sora?" I whispered. "Can you hear me?"

Riku sat on the arm of the couch and Kairi on my other side. Both were worried about the brunette.

Sora's eyes flickered open. For a moment, he didn't say anything. After blinking a few more times, the brunette sat up, looking at me. "Roxas?"

I smiled. "Hey…"

He smiled back. "Finally!" Sora fell back against the pillow. "A nice dream."

Riku and Kairi laughed. "This isn't a dream."

Sora glanced back to Riku. "It better not be another nightmare since you're in it."

Kairi and I snickered.

"No silly," she said. "You're awake. We're really here."

He smiled for a moment. "So… I'm finally awake?" Sora suddenly hugged me with his face buried in my chest. After taking a few deep breaths, he sighed. "Yep, I'm awake." He sat up. "I can touch you and you don't disappear, and you smell good."

I felt a blush burn into my cheeks. "T-thanks?"

"You're welcome!" Sora hugged me again, but with his chin on my shoulder. "I've missed you."

The blush deepened. "Same here…Sora." I hugged him back. _If this _is_ a dream, I hope I never wake up._

**Moonfang: hehe needed a little fluff in here -^^-**

**Jaden: -gag- I still think Sora is uke, especially if you made him act like THAT.**

**Jesse: just read the story and no more arguing, Jay.**

**Jaden: BUT-**

**Jesse: no arguing!**

**Moonfang: …okay? lol just keep reading ppl :D you might like where this story is going ^^**

**Jaden: you still need to make Roxas seme…**

**Moonfang: You'd like that, wouldn't you ¬ ¬**

**Jaden: -twitch-**

**Jesse: lol**

**Moonfang: also, I had to redo the chapter because there was no notice to show that it changed to Roxas's POV. On Microsoft Word, I'd made a line to show that, but the line didn't show up on FanFic… sorry ppl XD**


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